4-Year-Old Survives Awful Car Crash Thanks to 1 Simple Thing (VIDEO)

Getting into a car accident with our kids in the vehicle has to be one of the scariest scenarios any parent can conceive of -- which is something one man knows all too well this week.

While traveling on the highway, Xavier Robinson's car was hit from behind, which caused him to lose control -- resulting in the car flipping over four times and landing in a ditch. And all he could think about while the accident was taking place was his little cousin -- who was traveling with him that day in the back seat.

Yep ... her car seat. She was still strapped into it -- and was hanging from a fence near the ditch "like a backpack."

Check out this video clip to hear Xavier's account of the accident.

We're told over and over again that car seats save lives -- but sometimes it takes a story like this to drill the idea into our heads even more.

Let's be honest -- car seats are kind of a pain in the butt, especially in the winter months when you have to deal with taking coats on and off, etc.

And it's pretty safe to say that most parents have thought about forgoing the car seat all together and strapping their preschooler in with the seat belt instead -- if it's only for a quick drive down the street, or to pop over to a neighbor's house. After all, we didn't even have car seats as kids, and we turned out just fine ... right?

Wrong. We got lucky. And we simply can't take the safety of our kids lightly ... EVER. Strapping them into their car seat may just be a matter of life and death. Every time you even consider doing otherwise ... think about this sweet little girl and how awful the outcome of that wreck might have been had her cousin not taken the time to buckle her in.